


Pride's Downfall

by MidniteVocaloid



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 11:11:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13052835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidniteVocaloid/pseuds/MidniteVocaloid
Summary: Solas and Shaena struggle to move on after the war against the Mages/Templars and Corypheus. Both hearts are broken and they each find themselves reminiscing about the times they had. But time is running out for them both.





	1. The Beginning of the End

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first official fan fic. Please leave comments as I love to hear people's opinion on my work and if you like it please leave kudos. Ratings may change at a later date
> 
> Updates will be erratic I'm afraid, since i'm currently working and time zones are shit

In her head, she replayed it over and over again. The temple remains rising at His command, the Dragon infused with red lyrium, the final battle. And the moment of His demise at her hands. The burning agony as her left hand threatened to tear itself apart and take her with it. The smooth feel of the orb as she held it in her hand and closed the Breach once and for all before creating a Fade rift around the creature that had ruined her life and that of Thedas. Solas, picking up the broken remains of the orb, cradling them to him in despair.  
“The orb….”  
“Are you sure? We could take the pieces… Try to…..” She trails off.  
“That would not recover what was lost.” He replies. She steps closer, looking down at him.  
“There’s more, isn’t there?” she states. Solas stands and looks at her.  
“It was not supposed to happen this way. I just want you to know, no matter what happens, I will never forget this” he says, smiling at her sadly.  
“INQUISITOR!” Cassandra shouts from below. “Are you alive?!”  
She turns her back on Solas and walks in the direction of Cassandra’s voice to find a congregation as she walked down the steps to greet them. The people who stood by her side in her quest, people she had come to call friends. Stopping a few steps from the bottom, she stood looking at each of them, as they did her.  
“Then it’s over?” Vivienne is the first to speak. “How lovely”  
Cassandra regards the Inquisitor with a small grin and a nod before remarking:  
“And you survive. Thank the Maker.”  
“And the sky is healed, healthy. Whole. There’s just that left to remember.” Cole says, looking up at the darkened sky.  
She glances at him and smiles. “It looks that way.”  
“What do we do now?” Cassandra asks her. She looks away, frowning. Looking behind her, she sees no evidence of Solas. The ruins of the Temple are quiet, empty. Ash swirls around them in a macabre dance before settling on the ground. She picks up what remains of the orb, making a mental note to give it to Dagna to study. Turning to her friends and companions, she gave them all that determined, steely glance that they’ve all become so accustomed to seeing, accompanied by a slight smile.  
“We go back to Skyhold.”

 

In her dreams, she runs. Tears burn her eyes and run down her face. Fear threatens to overwhelm her. She searches for him, needing to find him but can’t. He cannot be found, no matter how hard she searches and looks for him. She screams his name into the Fade, willing him to hear her, to come back to her. She is greeted only with silence. And then she hears something. A whisper, from across the Fade.  
“Ir abelas, ma vhenan”

“Ir abelas, ma vhenan”. The words ring in her ears as she wakes up with a start. Outside, birds chirrup and squawk. Shaena slides off her bed and walks out onto her balcony. She WILL find him, she vows. No matter what happens, how much he’s hurt her, she won’t leave him now. And nobody can stop her.


	2. (No) Regrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Solas wanders and reminises

He wandered aimlessly, eluvian through eluvian, through the Fade, into the past, with no real destination. All he could see was her. The pain showing on her face, the pain he had caused, from both the Anchor trying to kill her and her broken heart. All he’d wanted to do was pull her into his arms and take the pain away. Instead, he had kissed her for one last time before walking away again. It was all he knew what to do when he was around her. For thousands of years, he had done nothing but run and hide, from his past and his mistakes. He had let nobody near, didn’t want the distractions and guilt. All that had changed when he first met her…

_“Inform me when the prisoner is awake, at once. I shall want to question them.” The Seeker, Cassandra Pentaghast. His lips curled in a sneer. She was harsh and brash, yet completely focused on finding out what had happened, a trait Solas admired in the woman, however much they didn’t trust in each other. Her hawklike gaze landed on where he stood and snorted. A thought crossed his mind, and before he lost the opportunity, he stalked towards her._   
_“What do you want, apostate?”The venom in her words as she spat the last word was unpalatable, but Solas continued to walk beside her._   
_“A mere favour, Seeker.” She twisted her head to gauge his remark. “You need to find out what happened, and I happen to be the only one around who has some form of understanding about the Breach and the Fade. I also understand that the prisoner you brought back from the ruins had a mark on their hand?” He smiled inwardly as she started and continued before she could interrupt him. “I’d like to…. Examine this person, find out more about this mark and maybe find out how to seal the Breach.” He waited as she deliberated. He knew that she thought it was dangerous for him to be alone with their only link to the Breach, but her desire for knowledge of what happened ate at her. Finally, she spoke._   
_“Very well. I shall take you to her.”_   
_That startled him. “HER?”_   
_“Yes. The prisoner is female. Does this pose a problem with your… experiment?” she snapped back._   
_“It’s just not what I expected.” he replied. Cassandra pushed open the heavy door to the only occupied cell in the building. And Solas saw what he was dealing with for the first time._   
_A small feminine body knelt in the middle of the room, head bowed, dark red hair covering her face. Her clothing, whilst singed and sooty, spoke of a simple life. She was quiet, save for the gasps of breath as her hand flared with green light. Solas stepped forward and knelt beside her, noting the chains that held the girl in place. Fenedhis, she was just that, a mere girl. Barely into her twentieth summer, Solas reckoned._   
_“Are the restraints really needed, Seeker?” he asked._   
_“It’s not your place to question me, apostate. You’re only here to find out anything you possibly can about this mark. Are we understood?” He nodded. “Good. Then let me warn you now. If you attempt to flee, if you do not produce results, I shall have you executed.” She turned on her heel and walked out, the heavy door slamming shut behind her._   
_Solas took the marked hand in his own, noting how small and elegant it was. Unable to help himself, he brushed her hair away from her face and sharply inhaled at the sight that greeted him._   
_She was Dalish, her vallaslin, a rustic brown, tattooing her face, curling gracefully along her nose, over her forehead and around her eyes. She was pale, a light smattering of freckles bridging across her nose. Dark lashes fanned across her cheekbones. High cheekbones, he thought. She was stunning, in a league of her own. Solas had seen many beautiful elven women in his life, but even they seemed dull compared to this young female. Shaking away the unbidden thoughts, he turned his attention to the task at hand. Time for answers._


	3. The Rift

_Demons spawning from the rift in front of him and the dwarf. Varric Tethras, he thought. Both of them were slaying demons after demon, only for more to fall through the rift. He wasn’t sure how long the assault lasted. It was just him and the demons while he figured out a way to seal the open rift._  
_“We’ve got company,” came the gruff voice of his dwarven companion. Solas turned to see the Seeker land, sword brandished. His attention focused on the elf behind her. Her jaw was clenched, knuckles white as her marked hand flared from the close proximity to the rift. She dropped down to join them and quickly sent a demon flying backwards with a simple mind blast. Together they dispatched the remaining demons in less time than Solas had anticipated._  
_“Quickly, before more come though!” he shouted. He grabbed he left hand and thrust it in the air, towards the rift. He channelled his magic through her hand, flowing into the mark and hoped his theory was correct as they connected. After a few seconds, though it seemed more like minutes, the rift sealed and she wrenched her hand from his with a gasp, staring at it and flexing her fingers. Then she turned to look at him asking “What did you do?”_  
_“I did nothing,” he replied with an incline of his head. “It was all your doing.” There was a short pause before she answered._  
_“I did that? But… how?!” He barely heard her words, too entranced by the vision before him. He heard himself speak, replying to her automatically. She was more beautiful than the last time he saw her. Her dark hair was pulled back in a simple braid, wisps of hair framing her delicate face. Her eyes were a cool but stormy grey, lined with long dark lashes, the colour standing out from the marking on her face._  
_“What he means is ‘I kept that mark from killing you as you slept’.” Varric’s comment brought Solas out of his reverie._  
_“Thank you” she murmured, staring at the floor as colour rose in her cheeks. Quickly, they all hatched a plan to get through the valley to the forward camp to meet another. After that came the big plan. The beginning of everything._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one is so short. I couldn't really write much... Writer's Block is a total bitch.


End file.
